Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

Argentina: Welsh Language

Lord Wigley: To ask His Majesty's Government what discussions they have had with the government of Argentina on greater support for the teaching of Welsh in the Chubut Province.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The British Council has delivered the Welsh Language Project (WLP), which promotes and develops the Welsh language in the Chubut region of Patagonia, Argentina, since 1997. Each year, Language Development Officers from Wales spend a full academic year teaching in Patagonia. They develop the language in the Welsh-speaking communities through both formal teaching and informal social activities. His Majesty's Ambassador to Argentina and the British Council Director for Argentina last discussed the programme with the Government of Argentina in mid-March.

Department for Transport

Aviation

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, what regulations are being considered to ensure that ‘temporary reserved areas’ do not impact citizens regarding (1) safety, (2) noise, (3) privacy, and (4) environmental impacts; and when they will provide the necessary regulatory frameworks.

Lord Davies of Gower: The regulatory framework exists and Temporary Reserved Areas (TRAs) are applied for through the Airspace Change Process and are assessed by the regulator, the Civil Aviation Authority, which under Section 70 of the Transport Act 2000, has a duty to take a number of factors into account. This includes assessing that a high standard of safety is maintained in the provision of air traffic services; specific guidance on environment objectives contained within the Air Navigation Guidance 2017; and the process allows for consultation with potentially impacted stakeholders to raise concerns such as privacy.

Aviation

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, where the ‘temporary reserved areas’ will operate; and what will be the size of those areas.

Lord Davies of Gower: Details of location and size are proposed by the industry, before assessment by the CAA on a case-by-case basis, to consider safety in the proposed operational environment. Temporary Reserved Areas (TRAs) are applied for through the Airspace Change Process, which allows for consultation with potentially impacted stakeholders.

Aviation

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, when they anticipate that the British Standards Institute will report on recommended performance standards for uncrewed aircraft systems for testing in operational non-segregated airspace environments known as ‘temporary reserved areas’.

Lord Davies of Gower: It is within the Action Plan for CAA to start an Uncrewed Traffic Management (UTM) sandbox this year to allows testing in non-segregated airspace environments. Any recommended performance standards for uncrewed aircraft system testing will need to meet the expectations of the CAA, to ensure that all airspace users meet the necessary safety requirements.

Aviation

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to introduce a legislative control framework before implementing the Future of Flight Action Plan.

Lord Davies of Gower: We already have a regulatory framework for drones and eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing). Key legislation includes Regulation (EU) 2018/1139 on common rules in the field of civil aviation, Regulation (EU) 2019/945 on unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), Regulation (EU) 2019/947 on the rules and procedures for the operation of unmanned aircraft, the Air Navigation Order 2016 and the Air Traffic Management and Unmanned Aircraft Act 2021. The Action Plan outlines activities to identify and develop any further regulation as needed.

Luton Airport: Fires

Lord Naseby: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made ofthe cause of the fire at Terminal 2 of Luton Airporton10 October 2023; and whether the cause has been established to be a diesel or an electric car.

Lord Davies of Gower: A joint investigation by Bedfordshire Police and Bedfordshire Fire and Rescue Service has concluded, indicating that the fire started accidentally, with the most likely cause being an electrical fault or component failure that originated in the engine bay of a diesel vehicle while it was in motion.

Aviation

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, what is their timeline to achieve operational ‘temporary reserved areas’ by end of 2024.

Lord Davies of Gower: Operational temporary reserved areas (TRAs) are in use now and throughout 2024 for Uncrewed Aircraft Systems (UAS) trials, enabling the CAA to validate the use of airspace policy concepts with real world use cases.

Aviation: Hydrogen

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the role of hydrogen technology in reducing aviation carbon emissions to net zero by 2050, and what steps they are taking to accelerate the adoption of hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Lord Davies of Gower: The Government’s Jet Zero Strategy, published in July 2022, set out our approach to achieving net zero UK aviation by 2050 through multiple different measures. The use of hydrogen is considered in the Zero Emission Flight chapter of the Strategy. The Strategy anticipates that hydrogen will be first deployed in short haul aviation with recognised uncertainty on the potential for and timing of its scaling up for use in long haul. As with all measures in the Jet Zero Strategy the Government keeps the evidence base under regular review and any changes will be reflected in future updates to the Strategy. Between 2013 and 2030, industry and government will invest over £5 billion to develop transformational aircraft technology through the Aerospace Technology Institute Programme. This includes co-investment in industry led projects to develop hydrogen aircraft in the UK. In 2022 a Delivery Group of the government and industry forum the Jet Zero Council was established to accelerate the adoption of zero emission flight.

Aviation

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Future of Flight Action Plan, published on 18 March, what manufacturing standards will be in place for uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), and when, to ensure compliance with Regulation (EU) 2019/947 which requires operators to ensure UAS are capable of performing intended flights safely.

Lord Davies of Gower: Regulation (EU) 2019/945 sets out the product standard requirements for uncrewed aircraft systems, which will come into force on the 1 January 2026 (as set out in Regulation (EU) 2019/947). The CAA recently consulted on product standards and will be providing the department with recommendations on potential regulatory amendments. There are four areas that DfT particularly intend to focus on: remote ID, geo-awareness/fencing, lighting requirements and manufacturer requirements.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Bread and Flour Regulations 1998

Lord Dodds of Duncairn: To ask His Majesty's Government whichspecific legal obligations require them to notify the EU about planned legislative changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998.

Lord Douglas-Miller: HM Government is required to allow the EU to provide comments on notified proposed technical regulations in accordance with Article 94 of the Trade and Co-operation Agreement between the UK and the EU. In discharging this obligation, the notification of planned legislative changes to the Bread and Flour Regulations 1998 was circulated to the World Trade Organisation Technical Barriers to Trade Committee on 9th February 2024. In accordance with arrangements provided in the Windsor Framework notification of the European Commission is also required under Assimilated Regulation (EC) No 1925/2006 Article 11 and Directive (EU) 2015/1535 Article 5(1) in respect of planned amendments to the Bread and Flour Regulations (Northern Ireland) 1998. The EU commission were notified under the Windsor Framework of the planned amendments to the Bread and Flour Regulations (Northern Ireland) on the 8th of February 2024.

Water Companies: Billing

Lord Taylor of Warwick: To ask His Majesty's Government, following reports that water companiesplan to raise customer bills by up to 70 per cent over the next five years, what assessment they have made of the impact of those rises on (1)household budgets, (2) consumer spending, and (3) overall economic stability; and what steps they are taking to mitigate any such challenges.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The public have made it clear clean and plentiful water supply and environmental protection is a priority. New infrastructure will need to be paid for, and while water companies can attract private investment, this will also need to come from customer bills. There is a balance to be struck in terms of priorities – ensuring there is prioritised spending on infrastructure to reduce environmental harm and secure supplies for the future without unduly hitting billpayers with a big rise. All water companies submitted their proposed business plans for Price Review 2024 to Ofwat in October 2023, which set out planned investment and proposed bill increases for 2025-2030. These are now undergoing scrutiny by the independent regulator Ofwat to ensure they meet the targets for environmental improvements and other obligations, whilst also offering value for money for consumers. As such, current reports of increases to bills over the next five years are not yet confirmed. Increases will be confirmed after Ofwat’s final determinations are published later this year, and new price controls will then come into force from 1st April 2025. We are committed to a water sector that delivers for customers, the environment and wider society, and recognise that some households may struggle to pay their water bill in full. All water companies offer reduced bills for eligible customers via the WaterSure scheme and social tariffs as well as a range of other financial support measures. We are continuing to work with industry to explore options to improve existing social tariff arrangements.

Agriculture and Food Supply: Floods

The Marquess of Lothian: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the impact of flooded and saturated farmland on farming and foodproduction, following recent data from the UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, which show that soil moisture levels at most of the sites it monitors were at high or above capacity in December 2023 and January 2024.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The Government recognises the impact flooded and saturated farmland has on farming and food production and sympathises with those affected. On 6 January, we announced we would set up the Farming Recovery Fund to support farmers affected by exceptional flooding. The focus of the Fund is in those local authority areas where the Flood Recovery Framework has been activated. Farmers who have been impacted by flooding in these areas will be written to by the Rural Payments Agency inviting them to apply for a grant of up to £25,000 to support them in restoring agricultural land to the conditions it was in before the flooding. The Government has recently announced £75 million funding for Internal Drainage Boards to protect agricultural land and rural communities from flooding, helping areas recover from recent flooding events and modernising infrastructure to lower costs for farmers and increase their resilience to climate change.

Sewage: Per- and Polyfluorinated Alkyl Substances

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to expand the types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) regulated under environmental permitting, and whether they will consider tightening the limits on the amount of PFAS that can be in effluent.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The Environment Agency is developing options to increase the number of PFAS that are controlled through environmental permits issued under the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2016. This is focused on those with the strongest evidence of harm, such as PFAS listed under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, and may include new statutory and non-statutory standards for water quality which can be used to set permit limits for discharges to rivers. More widely, the Government is working with the Environment Agency to assess levels of PFAS occurring in the environment, their sources, and potential risks to inform policy and regulatory approaches. Action has already been taken to ban or highly restrict specific PFAS both domestically and internationally, including perfluoro-octane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) as well as perfluorohexanesulphonic acid (PFHxS), a persistent organic pollutant, the use and production of which was prohibited in 2023. In the Environmental Improvement Plan 2023, the Government also committed to consult on improvements to the regulatory framework for industrial emissions to better reflect our environmental priorities. This will include assessing whether any changes are required to ensure that industrial emissions of persistent chemicals such as PFAS are effectively controlled.

Meat: Imports

Baroness Randerson: To ask His Majesty's Government what is the tonnage of illegal meat intended for import into the UK seized following UK customs checks in each of the last five years; and what is their assessment of the risk to UK pig farms from African Swine Flu present in consignments of imported meat.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The data we have relates to seizures of “products of animal origin, contaminated goods and packaging” (not necessarily just meat) reported to Defra by English PHAs only. Any seizures made by other officials or seizures not reported to Defra are not included here. The data below relates to all EU and Rest of World imports. YearNumber of seizures of products of animal origin reported to Defra by English Port Health AuthoritiesTotal weight (kilogrammes)2022 (w/c 22 October 2022-w/c 31 December 2022 inclusive)424,1232023 (w/c 7 January 2023 to 30 December 2023 inclusive)62253,8792024 (w/c 6 January 2024 to w/c 27 January 2024 inclusive)457,572Total70965,574  There are rules for bringing food or animal products into Great Britain (GB) for personal use, depending on the country that the traveller is coming from. There are restrictions on meat, dairy and other products. African swine fever (ASF) cases in Europe in 2022 represented new “jumps” in disease distribution towards the United Kingdom. While we consider that the overall risk of entry of ASF virus into the UK from all combined pathways remains at medium, the particular pathway of human-mediated transport of non-commercial, infected products from the EU is considered to be high risk. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) conducts outbreak risk assessments on ASF in the EU, published here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/african-swine-fever-in-pigs-and-boars-in-europe and attached to this answer. As a result, we announced controls restricting the movement of pork and pork products into GB to help safeguard Britain's pigs. Travellers are no longer allowed to bring pork or pork products weighing over two kilograms into GB, unless they are produced to the EU’s commercial standards. The controls, which came into force in September 2022, strengthen the standards for bringing pork and pork products into GB from the EU and EFTA states. This measure helps limit possibly infected pig meat being brought into GB through various means, such as in passengers’ luggage or in vehicles.Attachment for HL2406 (pdf, 1377.7KB)

Meat: Import Controls

Baroness Hayman of Ullock: To ask His Majesty's Government how much meat has been seized at the UK border by officials in each of the last six months; and whether they expect to completely eradicate the import of illicit produce under their Border Target Operating Model.

Lord Douglas-Miller: The data we have relates to seizures of “products of animal origin, contaminated goods and packaging” (not necessarily just meat) reported to Defra by English PHAs only. Any seizures made by other officials or seizures not reported to Defra are not included here. The data below relates to all EU and Rest of World imports. YearNumber of seizures of products of animal origin reported to Defra by English Port Health AuthoritiesTotal weight (kilogrammes)2022 (w/c 22 October 2022-w/c 31 December 2022 inclusive)424,1232023 (w/c 7 January 2023 to 30 December 2023 inclusive)62253,8792024 (w/c 6 January 2024 to w/c 27 January 2024 inclusive)457,572Total70965,574  There are rules for bringing food or animal products into Great Britain (GB) for personal use, depending on the country that the traveller is coming from. There are restrictions on meat, dairy and other products. African swine fever (ASF) cases in Europe in 2022 represented new “jumps” in disease distribution towards the United Kingdom. While we consider that the overall risk of entry of ASF virus into the UK from all combined pathways remains at medium, the particular pathway of human-mediated transport of non-commercial, infected products from the EU is considered to be high risk. The Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) conducts outbreak risk assessments on ASF in the EU, published here https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/african-swine-fever-in-pigs-and-boars-in-europe and attached to this answer. As a result, we announced controls restricting the movement of pork and pork products into GB to help safeguard Britain's pigs. Travellers are no longer allowed to bring pork or pork products weighing over two kilograms into GB, unless they are produced to the EU’s commercial standards. The controls, which came into force in September 2022, strengthen the standards for bringing pork and pork products into GB from the EU and EFTA states. This measure helps limit possibly infected pig meat being brought into GB through various means, such as in passengers’ luggage or in vehicles.African swine fever in Europe (pdf, 1377.7KB)

Department of Health and Social Care

Childbirth

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what progress they have made in implementingthe National Maternity Review’s report Better Births, published on 22 February 2016.

Lord Markham: The Better Births report sets out a vision for maternity services across England to become safer and more personalised. NHS England subsequently published their Three-Year Delivery Plan for Maternity and Neonatal Services, which sets out how maternity and neonatal care will be made safer, more personalised, and more equitable for women, babies, and families. The plan encompasses recommendations from several reports, including the National Maternity Review’s Better Births report.Many initiatives are being delivered through the plan to implement the vision from Better Births, including continuity of carer, rolling out an updated version of the Saving Babies Lives Care Bundle to reduce stillbirth, neonatal brain injury, neonatal death, and preterm birth, and Local Maternity and Neonatal Systems producing Equity and Equality Action Plans to tackle disparities in the outcomes and experiences of maternity care at a local level.

Rare Diseases: Carers and Families

Lord Hay of Ballyore: To ask His Majesty's Government what provisions are in place to support the families and caregivers of individuals with rare diseases.

Lord Markham: Each year since 2021, we have published an England Rare Diseases Action Plan. On 29 February 2024, we published the third England Rare Diseases Action Plan. In this plan we recognised that significant challenges exist with access to mental health and psychological support for people living with rare conditions, as well as their families and carers. During this year we have taken steps to further understand the challenges faced through a workshop, and have begun to address these needs by developing resources to better equip the workforce to provide support.The enormous contribution of unpaid carers, including those caring for individuals with rare diseases, is reflected throughout the Next Steps to Put People at the Heart of Care, published in April 2023. Furthermore, the Better Care Fund in 2023/24 includes £327 million for carers support, including short breaks and respite services for carers. This also funds advice and support to carers, and a small number of additional local authority duties. The Accelerating Reform Fund also provides support for unpaid carers. The Government is developing a new survey of unpaid carers which will capture the wide range of experiences, circumstances, and needs of unpaid carers across England. Through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, an evaluation of the support provided to unpaid carers funded through the Better Care Fund has been commissioned, which will improve the understanding of what support works best for unpaid carers.

Ukraine: Medical Equipment

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what medical equipment they have donated to Ukraine since 1 January.

Baroness Wolf of Dulwich: To ask His Majesty's Government what medical equipment they donated to Ukraine during 2023.

Lord Markham: The Department donated no medical equipment to Ukraine during the year 2023.The Department donated no medical equipment to Ukraine between 1 January 2024 and 29 February 2024. However, it did donate medical equipment in 2022. The Government continues to actively consider options for making donations of surplus medical equipment to Ukraine, in addition to those made in 2022.

Brain: Tumours

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government whether they will review spending on (1) gliomas, and (2) astrocytoma cancer,to account for any increase in incidences.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are takingto reduce the adverse disparity in survival rates for brain tumour patients compared to other cancers whose treatment attracts greater levels of funding.

Lord Markham: The Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). The NIHR’s research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23. The NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission through the NIHR. Brain tumours are a difficult research area with a relatively small research community, so we are taking actions to grow the field, such as workshops for researchers, and research training for clinicians. In addition to research programme spend on projects, NIHR research infrastructure supports brain tumour research studies, mainly in the National Health Service. Between 2018 and 2022, UK Research and Innovation, including the Medical Research Council, awarded £23.2 million in brain tumour research funding.The Government is committed to improving the survival rates for all cancers. The latest publicly available figures showed improved survival rates across almost all types of cancer, including brain cancer, since 2010. Early diagnosis is key to improving survival rates, and the Department is working towards the NHS Long Term Plan ambition of diagnosing 75% of stageable cancers at stage 1 and 2 by 2028.The Government is working jointly with NHS England on implementing the delivery plan for tackling the COVID-19 backlogs in elective care, and plans to spend more than £8 billion from 2022/23 to 2024/25 to help drive up and protect elective activity, including cancer diagnosis and treatment activity.  Over 340,000 people received their first cancer treatment in the 12 months to January 2024.

Mental Health Services: Expenditure

Lord Stevens of Birmingham: To ask His Majesty's Government, further to the Written Statement byLord Markham on 21 March (HLWS366),whether NHS England and integrated care board aggregate NHS mental health expenditure would still be expected toincrease as a share of their total expenditure in 2024–25 compared with 2023–24 if "non-recurrent" expenditure is not excluded from the baseline calculation; and if not, whether they will itemise and quantify expected "non-recurrent" expenditure in both years.

Lord Markham: The following table shows the spend on mental health in 2024/25 and 2023/24, the total National Health Service mandate, and the spend on mental health as a percentage of the mandate: 2023/242024/25Total NHS mandate£173,300,000,000£179,300,000,000Mental health spend£13,900,000,000£14,800,000,000As a percentage of the mandate8%8.2%Source: NHS England.

Covid: Immunosuppression

Lord Mendelsohn: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of (1) the level of unmet need of immunocompromised patients for protection against COVID-19, and (2) whether the MHRA has sufficient staff so that it can appropriately prioritise regulatory decisions in support of such patients.

Lord Markham: As set out in the Living with COVID-19 Strategy, the Government and the UK Health Security Agency will continue to communicate to people most vulnerable to COVID-19 about available clinical interventions, including vaccination and treatments, as well as testing and public health advice.All individuals aged six months old or above who are immunosuppressed were offered a vaccination in the Autumn 2023 COVID-19 vaccination programme, along with those in other clinical risk groups. The immunosuppressed group will be offered a further dose as part of the spring programme announced in February, that is being rolled out in England from mid-April. This follows the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation’s advice that those who are immunosuppressed are at particular risk of serious disease from COVID-19.The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is looking at novel and standard ways to develop staff capability and expertise. New assessor capacity is being supplemented with an additional fixed-term resource of appropriately experienced and qualified specialists, to support the training and supervision of new staff. The MHRA also continues to recruit to additional roles in its assessment teams.

MMR Vaccine: Pharmacy

Baroness Merron: To ask His Majesty's Government whatassessment they have made of the potential for community pharmacists to administer the MMR vaccine.

Lord Markham: As part of the national measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) improvement plan, NHS England has worked with regional commissioners to assess the potential for community pharmacy to deliver MMR vaccines, as part of a longer-term approach to improving uptake.In specific response to the current measles outbreak, some areas have stood up community pharmacy sites on a time-limited basis to deliver the MMR vaccine to specific cohorts, based on local population need. For example, in the North West and the Midlands, National Health Service teams have used community pharmacies to step up their efforts to get more children protected with the MMR vaccine.Using community pharmacy in this way will help to test the concept of community pharmacy playing a greater role in the delivery of vaccinations, and will support the integrated care boards’ work to develop a more coherent approach to vaccines, including where, when, and how to deliver them to maximise uptake, particularly in underserved populations.

Brain: Tumours

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to ensure that the National Institute for Health and Care Research, the Medical Research Council, and the UK Research and Innovation work together collaboratively to ensure progress on funding brain tumour research.

Lord Markham: Research is crucial in tackling cancer, which is why the Department invests over £1 billion per year in health research through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR). NIHR research expenditure for all cancers was £121.8 million in 2022/23, and the NIHR spends more on cancer than any other disease group.In May 2018 the Government announced £40 million for brain tumour research as part of the Tessa Jowell Brain Cancer Mission, through the NIHR. Since this announcement, the NIHR has committed £11.3 million across 17 projects, with the Medical Research Council (MRC) awarding £10.4 million. There is still funding available from the original £40 million, and we expect to spend more as new research progresses. The Department is taking steps to ensure that funders work closely together to coordinate work along the translational pathway, from the discovery and early translational science typically supported by the MRC, feeding through to the applied health and care research funded by the NIHR. These steps include convening a brain cancer research roundtable in May 2024, to bring together research experts and funders, to determine how to accelerate research efforts in this area. As an example of coordination, the Efficacy and Mechanism Evaluation (EME) Programme is a partnership between the MRC and the NIHR, supporting research in the mechanisms of diseases, and treatments which have the potential to make a step-change in the promotion of health, treatment of disease, and improvement of rehabilitation or long-term care. The EME’s portfolio includes a £1.5 million clinical trial testing the effectiveness of a targeted form of proton beam radiotherapy for a type of brain cancer called oligodendroglioma. The NIHR also coordinates with the MRC to complement their investments, such as a £2 million investment supporting researchers to understand and treat cancers with exceptionally poor survival rates, including cancer of the brain, lung, and oesophagus.

Diabetes: Research

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what partnerships and expedients they are encouraging to progress diabetes type one stem cell and non-stem-cell research.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what incentives they are offering to commercial operators to form medical partnerships to advance stem-cell and non-stem-celltreatments for diabetes type one sufferers.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to promote international cooperation and joint research to find solutions for both type one and type two diabetes sufferers.

The Earl of Dundee: To ask His Majesty's Government what incentives they are offering to medical partnerships to assist type two diabetes sufferers through research into both stem-cell and non-stem-cell treatments for diabetes type one sufferers.

Lord Markham: The Department is delivering improvements as part of the Vision for the Future of UK Clinical Research Delivery to make the United Kingdom a world leader in clinical research, attracting investment from commercial companies to deliver cutting edge research in a range of disease areas, including diabetes. For example, we introduced the National Contract Value Review to standardise costing and contracting for commercial research in the National Health Service.This has reduced set up times for clinical research by a third which makes running research in the UK more efficient for commercial companies.The National Institute for Health and Care Research’s (NIHR) Clinical Research Network (CRN) supports conduct of clinical research in the NHS, providing tailored support for both non-commercial organisations and the life sciences industry. The CRN has a Diabetes Speciality Group to support research across key priorities in diabetes.The NIHR works in partnership with Diabetes UK to deliver the joint UK Strategy for Clinical and Applied Diabetes Research. The NIHR also funds a Global Health Research Unit on Diabetes and Cardiovascular Disease in South Asia, creating partnerships between research organisations in Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and the UK.

Period Poverty

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of value lost to the economy through period inequity, as set out in the report, The State of Period Equity in the UK, published by In Kind Direct on 29 February.

Lord Markham: No formal assessment has been made. Menstrual health and gynaecological conditions are a priority in the Women’s Health Strategy for England. This strategy sets out our ambitions for improving information provision and tackling stigma surrounding topics such as periods and menstrual health, so society is better able to support women across their lives, including in schools and in workplaces. The statutory relationships, health, and sex education curriculum covers several areas of women’s health, including menstrual health. In July 2023 we launched a women’s health area on the National Health Service website, which brings together over 100 health topics, and includes a section on periods.The Government is also committed to making period products more financially accessible, which will reduce barriers faced by women and girls in accessing education and work. The Period Product Scheme is available to girls and women in state-funded schools and colleges, providing a wide range of free period products, so that periods are not a barrier to education. 99% of secondary schools, 94% of post 16-year-old education organisations, and 75% of primary schools have used the scheme since it began in 2020. Free period products are also available for people in hospital and in custody. Since 1 January 2021, a zero rate of VAT has applied to sanitary products, and in January 2024 this was extended to include period pants.Within the workplace, flexible working arrangements can allow individuals, including women suffering from menstrual problems, to work at a time, place, and during hours that support their needs. The Employment Relations (Flexible Working) Act makes changes to the right to request flexible working, to provide employees with better access to flexible working arrangements.More widely, the Government continues to support people on lower incomes, including those who struggle to afford period products. We will spend approximately £124 billion on people of working age and children, through the welfare system in Great Britain, and the Government has provided support, totalling £96 billion, from 2022 onwards to help households with the cost of living. We are providing further support for 2024/2025, including uprating working age benefits by 6.7%, raising the National Living Wage, and extending the Household Support Fund in England for a further six months.

Drugs: Shortages

The Lord Bishop of St Albans: To ask His Majesty's Government what estimate they have made, if any, of how many preventable hospitalisations have occurred as a result of medication shortages caused by Brexit.

Lord Markham: The medicine supply chain is highly regulated, complex, and global. Supply disruption is an issue which affects the United Kingdom as well as the other countries around the world, and it can have a variety of causes, including manufacturing issues, problems with access to raw ingredients, and sudden spikes in demand. Whilst we can’t always prevent supply issues from occurring, we have a responsibility to manage and mitigate them, working in collaboration with the pharmaceutical industry, NHS England, the devolved administrations, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, and others operating in the supply chain, to help prevent shortages and to ensure that the risks to patients are minimised. Following the exit from the European Union (EU), the Department has worked collaboratively with industry to support trader readiness for the new border controls. While some suppliers experienced delays at the border associated with trader readiness, these issues were swiftly resolved with no sustained impacts on medical supplies, and the Department has no evidence of the EU Exit leading to sustained medicines shortages.

Breast Milk

Baroness Fox of Buckley: To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of advice from NHS Sussex Trust that male lactation fluid is (1) safe and (2) beneficial for infants.

Lord Markham: The welfare of the baby is always the primary concern, and the evidence is clear that a mother’s breastmilk has significant advantages in reducing risks of infections and should be the main drink throughout an infant’s first year of life. Induced lactation is an area where further scientific and fact-based evaluation is needed.We have been clear that biological sex matters and it is important that health services recognise and support the different health and biological needs of men and women.